Collection details

Exhibition details are listed below, you may need to scroll down to see them all.

Exhibition (temporary)

Pablo Bronstein and the Treasures of Chatsworth

3 July — 20 September 2015 *on now

Works by Rembrandt and Franz Hals, Delft porcelain, the coronation chairs for William IV and Queen Adelaide, and a colossal Roman marble foot are among the objects that will appear within and alongside work by Pablo Bronstein, across all four of our galleries.

Unusually for a contemporary artist, Bronstein's work is fascinated by pre-20th century European design and architecture. The overwhelming theatricality of the Baroque, is a particular favourite, and it’s a period that Chatsworth and much of its' collection epitomises. Bronstein’s erudite drawings, performances, furniture and public art relate to both the past and the present in unsettlingly paradoxical, sometime humorous ways.

For this exhibition Bronstein has created new works inspired by Chatsworth. One gallery will be covered in realisations of Chatsworth’s iconic architecture viewed from different perspectives. Another will be entirely encircled by a frieze like drawing reimagining what Rome's legendary Via Appia, lined with the elaborate tombs of grandees, might have looked like during the decline of the Roman Empire. This was a favourite subject for capriccios, or architectural fantasy drawings, during The Grand Tour period. In another gallery, ornate 17th and 18th century silverware will be infinitely multiplied inside the mirrored interior of a mock-Grecian temple.

Much of Chatsworth’s collection was amassed by past Dukes of Devonshire during their own Grand Tours of Europe. This was an era when the display of highly decorated objects characterised wealth and power. These objects now appear in a new light in Nottingham Contemporary, within Bronstein’s exhibition design. The change of context invites us to consider how wealth and power find aesthetic form today.

Pablo Bronstein’s exhibition continues at Chatsworth. A rare survey of his drawings will be shown in Chatsworth’s New Gallery. Bronstein has also made a very large drawing for the Old Master Cabinet Room, which will be shown alongside a display of architectural drawings from Chatsworth's own collection.

For more information about The Grand Tour visit www.thegrandtour.uk.com

Suitable for

Any age

Admission

Free

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Then, if you are lucky, even you leave

4 July — 16 August 2015 *on now

Amsterdam-based artist Jacqueline Bebb has transformed the Small Collections Room into a three-dimensional travelogue, documenting the 2000 mile road trip she undertook in July 2014 to Washington State, USA, to visit the locations associated with Nirvana and Kurt Cobain. During her travels, Bebb became the biographer of Cobain through the anecdotal, sometimes biographical stories of her own trip.Bebb is interested in the concept of the travelogue as a form of self-representation, and a way to record and re-tell the stories of exploration and self-exploration through travel. Then, if you are lucky, even you leave explores the nature of cultural obsessions, hometowns, forgotten public spaces and friendship through subjects as diverse as Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Allegory of Good and Bad Government, Nirvana bootlegs and the pocket sculptures of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska.Before the trip, and in lieu of any formal tour or guide, Bebb used the Charles R. Cross biography ‘Heavier Than Heaven’ to compile a list of the most significant places of interest in the life of Kurt Cobain. In Aberdeen (his hometown), this amounted to the 14 homes, businesses and municipal areas in which he lived, went to school, hung out in or got into trouble at.The resulting travelogue is made up of various texts, notes and biographical pieces placed alongside a series of photographs that she took during the journey at the various homes and places of interest in the life of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. Alongside the travelogue, Bebb presents a multitude of objects collected and created during her trip, as well as those that are the subject of the biographical stories within the travelogue, such as And then she will bring me (Barq’s and Camel Lights) and Hotel Composition #4 (Dunlop Tortex); ‘temporary objects’ produced during the journey and documented in the hotel rooms they were made in.

This autumn we present four interrelated solo exhibitions, all with a connection to performance, theatre and film: Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz from Switzerland and Germany, Rana Hamadeh from Lebanon and the Netherlands, and Danai Anesiadou from Greece and Belgium. The fourth is the late, legendary jazz musician and Afro- Futurist, Sun Ra, who ascended to Saturn in 1993. The visual aspect of his work will be presented in a scenography by Nadia Lauro, from Paris. Each artist uses fiction and alternative realities to transform and extend our understanding of identity, social norms and world history. The exhibitions developed out of conversations with Collabor8, our young people’s group, and was curated to coincide with Circuit, our arts festival for 15 to 25 years olds in November.

Events details are listed below. You may need to scroll down or click on headers to see them all. For events that don't have a specific date see the 'Resources' tab above.

Lecture, talk or reading

Walkthroughs

4 July — 20 September 2015 *on now

Wed 8 July12noon – 12.45pmHannah Obee, Curator and Matthew Hirst, Head of Arts and Historic Collections Chatsworth discuss the objects in the exhibition.

Wed 22 July12noon – 12.45pmDr Patrizia Riganti, The University of Nottingham will view the exhibition from an architectural history perspective.

Wed 12 August6pm – 6.45pmGabriele Neher, The University of Nottingham on the Italian works in the Chatsworth Collection.

Wed 2 September12noon – 12.45pmAna Souto, Nottingham Trent University on the role of architecture in the exhibition and its relationship to national identity.

Wed 16 September6pm – 6.45pmRichard Wrigley, The University of Nottingham on travel and The Grand Tour.

Workshop, club or activity

Free Family Fun All Summer at Nottingham Contemporary!

25 July — 31 August 2015 *on now

Come and play at our house!

Join us at Nottingham Contemporary for fun family activities, all through the summer holidays, for free. Explore the new exhibition and see the exciting, curious and wondrous treasures of Chatsworth House, Then come and play at our house in The Space and get creative drawing, painting, making and posing for photos with your own creations!

No need to book, just join us.

FREE

Build, create, explore and play with us! Sat 25 July – Mon 31 August.11am-3pm – Every day except Mondays

Borrow a Play & Learn Kit Every day except Mondays.10am-6pm.FREEPacked with inventive activities to help everyone explore the exhibition. Borrow one at Reception and set out on your own Grand Tour through our Galleries.

Join us at The Beach Every Wednesday during the school holidays. 11.30am-2.30pmOld Market Square.FREE

Young People's Programme

Starting in January 2009 Nottingham Contemporary will be running a course for young people aged between 13 and 23 to help them act as arts instigators. They will be trained to design, co-ordinate and deliver a programme of activity for other young people. It will also give them an opportunity to take part in the Arts Council’s arts award scheme.

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0115 948 9750

All information is drawn from or provided by the venues themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.